Off the heels of its recent Thai iced tea beer, The Bruery is working on another experimental brew inspired by a popular ethnic beverage.
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Or Xata is reminiscent of horchata, the sweetened rice-water drink often chugged to quell the burn of Mexican food. Bruery founder Patrick Rue says the idea for this beer had been thrown around for years.
“Horchata is certainly a delicious beverage that's pretty unusual–milky, sweet, a little spicy, and somehow refreshing and palate cleansing,” Rue says. “With our new pilot system in operation, I thought this would be a great opportunity to develop a recipe around this concept. The first crack at brewing it on our pilot system didn't work out too well, so we made a few tweaks and found the recipe we liked on the second attempt. Along with our base malt, this beer contains a lot of rice, lactose (milk sugar) and rolled oats, along with a fairly neutral yeast strain and spiced it with vanilla bean and cinnamon. The result is definitely somewhere between beer and horchata–a sweet, creamy beverage with a background of cinnamon and vanilla.”
Or Xata, which has an anticipated ABV of 7.5%, will be released to the brewery's Preservation Society members in early October. There will also be limited distribution and draft sales at The Bruery tasting room.
